Ments



(No Model.)

C. BROWNING.

GAR GOUJPLHVG?Vl vweulom,

www5 S c//s tTED STATES ATENT FFTCE@ CLINTON BROWNING, OF SHOUSETOWN, ASSIGNORfBY MESNE'ASSIGN- MENTS, 'TO JAMES H. LINDSAY, TRUSTEE, OF ALLEGHENY OTTY, PA.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION formingA part of Letters Patent No. 273,343, dated March 6, 1883.

Application filed October 30,1882. (No model.) 1 Y To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLINTON BROWNING., of Shonsetown, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Oar-Couplings; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, audexact description thereof.

M v invention relates to the couplings emplo ed in connecting railroad-cars, and has special reference to automatic couplings employed lfor this'purpose. i

'The car-couplings heretofore constructed for coupling without links have usually been formed of biturc-ated or doublejawed drawheads, in which onejaw of one draw-head en tered between thejaws of the opposite drawhead, and was held therein by means of the clasping-jaw and locking devices of different construction, the usual device beinga hook or locking-lever pivoted in the end of one of the jaws. These hooks were so mounted in the jaws that they received the blows or jars at the base of the recessbetween the jaws, or that the pins on which the hooks or levers were mounted were liable to be bent out ot" shape by the blows or jars in coupling, or by the drawingl strain orjar which comes entirely on these pivoting-pins. The couplings were also more expensive and ditlicult to manufacture on account ofthe hooks and levers being pivoted, in the draw-heads by means ot' these pins.

The principal object of my invention is to 1 form a couplingin which the locking hook and this pivotingpin.

lever is protected from injury, and in which the hook or lever is ljournaled or mounted in the draw-head without the employment of lt consists, essentially, in a bifurcated or double-jawed draw-head ha'ving the jaw carryingr the locking hook or lever provided with a solid end and a. recess back of the solid end, in combination with a lockinglever Workiugwithiu said recess, and having a journal-face adapted to Work against or within oneface of the recess. It also consists in certain improvements in the construction of the draw-head and lockinglever.

` To enable others skilled in the art to make site draw-head.

and use my invention, I will describe its construction aud operation, referring to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- A Figure l is a side view of two couplings ready to couple. tral section ot' one coupling. Fig. 3 isa crosssection of the draw-head on the line Fig. 2, the locking-lever being removed. Fig. 4 is a. perspective viewof the locking-lever. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of thejaw carrying the locking-lever, showinganother form ot recess. Fig.,6 is a perspective view ot' the l0cking-lever employed therewith.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in each.

In the drawings,Arepresents the draw-head, having the `jaws a a and recess b between them for the reception of thejaw ot' the oppo- The draw-head has the extension A', by which it is mounted at the end ot' the car iu the usual manner. The forward end of the clasping-jaw a is curved outwardly to actas a guide for the entering jaw of the opposite coupling. The jaw a., carrying the locking lever or hook C, extends beyond the jaw a', and is adapted to enter the recess b ot' the opposite coupling. 'lhe end of thisjaw is formed with the solid face d, which is thus made strong enough to withstand the blows received from the clasping-jaw, and the base of the recess b in the opposite draw-head to protect the locking hook or lever there from and to take the drawing strain from the hook or lever. Back ot' this solid end or face d is the recess e, for the reception ofthe locking lever, and to strengthen the solid end d the sides ot' thejaw extend above land below ,this recess, thus iorming a. strong and compact jaw to take the blows in coupling. Extending back from this recess is the slotf, tor the reception of the operating-arm c ofthe locking- 1ever,and in the rear of the.' recess is the inclined facef, against which the spring g, secured to the back of the arm c, presses to throw out the locking-lever, as described in my application for Letters Patent tiled July 17, 1882. The lockinglever O is shown jour- 11a-lcd in thejaw wit-hout a pivoting-pin, and two Fig. 2 is an enlarged cenu different constructions are illustratedone in which the journaling-faceoftheleveris concave and lits around aconvex face in thejaw, back of its solid end, as shown in Figs. 2 to 4, and one in which the locking-lever has one or more convex faces or projections fitting into one or more corresponding concave faces or recesses in the solid-ended jaw, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The first construction will be particularly described, and in it the jaw has the convex fare lz,which forms one side of the recess e, and against and around which the concave journaling-face 'i of the lever lits and movesthe lever having a lip, k, beyond its concave face, fitting into a recess, h', back of the convexface l1. in ihejaw.

Opposite the face h of the recess is the curved lace e', the curve of'the face being sub stantially part of a circle drawnfrom the center of movement of the lever at a distance equal to that of the locking-shoulder of the lever therefrom, so that the shoulder can be drawn within the recess.

Extending out on either side of the arm c of the lever is the rib or lug l, these lugs being the same distance from the center ot' motion of the locking-lever as the shoulder thereof, so that'when fitting in the recess their ends bear against the curved face c' thereof and hold the journal-face t' up against the face It of thejaw. These ribs or lugs also prevent the lever from being withdrawn from the recess, except when the operating-arm c is thrown sufficiently forward to draw the ribs or lugs l out of the recess, and the lugs thus hold the lever within the recess when it is in its operative position. The ribs or lugs lmay eX- tend entirely across the lever from the operatingarm c, as shown, or only part way across, and the base of the recess e be grooved for their reception, thus leaving more metal to strengthen the jaw; but when 'the' solid end of thejaw is supported by the back walls and side walls it can be made su'iciently strongin the form shown.

The operating-arm c is bentbackward about midway of4 its length, and the slot f is suiiciently long to permit this arm to swing forward far enough to draw the ribs or lugs out of the recess e, and thus permit the withdrawal ofthe lever from thejaw, and a pin or stop, m, extends across or partially across this slot, to limit the movement of the operatingarm, and so hold the lever within the jaw. The face c ofthe lever is inclined and extends out from`the jaw back of the solid end d, so that it is not liable to he injured by blows in coupling.

In Figs. 5 and 6 the locking-lever is provided with one or more convex faces orextensions, i, fitting into one or morecorresponding concave faces or recesses, h, in the jaw, back ofthe solid end d, and the lever is held in the recess e by the ribs or lugs Z and stop or pin m, as above described.

The 1ocking-lever is withdrawn to uncouple by means ofa lever on the car connected to the end of the operating-arm c, as described in my former application.

In order to connect the coupling` with a common draw-head by means of a link and pin, I form in the claspi-ng-jaw a' a slot, s, and secure therein the link S by means of the pin t. As it is desirable to have the end of the link which couples with the ordinary draw-head at the center of the line of draft, the slot s extends through the jaw diagonally7 to the. line ofdraft, as shown in Fig. 2, so that the link can extend from the side of the hifurcated draw-head to the center ofthe common drawhead and the coupling with these common dra w-heads thus be facilitated.

The operation of my improved coupling is as follows: Then the coupling is to be made, the locking hooks or levers are released, so as to he in locking position, the operating-levers on the body of the cars being released when an automatic coupling such as that shown is employed, and thus permitting the springs to throw out the locking-levers. When the cars come together, the jaws a of the draw-head, carryingr the hooks or levers, enter the re cesses b of the couplings and strike against the claspingjaws et in entering, and the base of the recesses, and take the jars or blows in coupling. As these jaws ct have solid ends,

,they are much stronger than the ordinary jaws,

weakened by the recesses formed in them for the reception of the. pivoting-leaves of the hooks or levers, and the couplings are conse-- quently not so liable to injury from these blows or jars. As the faces of the locking-levers come in contact they press each other back into the recesses formed for their reception, and the journaling-faces of the levers move across or within the faces or seats in the jaws back of the solid ends, and as soon as they pass each other the springs within the heads throw themout, so that they interlock and form the coupling. The forward movement of the locking-lever is limited by the pin m, which prevents the ribs or lugs l of the lever from swinging out of the recesses, and to withdraw the lever it is necessary to remove this pin, when the arm c may swing farther forward in the slot, withdrawing the lugs l from the recess and permitting the withdrawal ofthelever. The drawing strain ou the coupling is communicated from the locking-levers to the solid and strongly-braced ends of the jaws, instead of two pivotal pins extending through the levers and jaws, so that a much stronger support for the drawing strain is obtained, and there is no liability of the coupling being rendered inoperative 'by the bending of the pivotal pins.

The coupling.,r is formed of few parts, which require but little finishing after being cast to shape, and can be manufactured almost as cheaply as the common draw-head, and it forms a stronger and more efjcient automatic coupling than has heretofore been made.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

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ing in said recess and having` a journal-face vadapted to work against one face thereof, and ribs or lugsto hold the lever within the recess, substantially` as set forth.

3. ln car-couplings, the combination, with the double-jawed draw-head having the solidended entering jaw, convex face h, and recess e, hack oi' said jaw, of the locking-lever C, having the concave journaling-face i and lip lc, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. In car-couplings, the combination, with the double-jawed draw-head having the solidended entering jaw, recess e, back of said jaw, and slotf, of the locking-leverjournaled Within said recess, and having the operating-arm o fitting Within said slot, and the pin or stop m, substantially as and For the purposes set forth.

5. In ear-couplings, the combination, With the double-jawed draw-head having;` the solidended enteringjaw, recess e, and s lotf, of the locking-lever Working in said recess, and having the journal-facet' and ribs or lugs Z, and

operating-arm c, and the pin or stop m, sub-- stantially as and for the purposes set forth.

6. In car-couplings, a kdouble-jawed` drawhead having the clasping-jaw provided with a slot, s, extending through said jaw diagonally to the line of draft, for the reception of a coupling-link, substantially as and'i'or the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I, the said CLINTON BROWNING, have hereunto' set my hand.

y CLINTON BROWNING. Witnesses F. G. KAY, i y JAMES I. KAY. 

